


Acrimony

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [9]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen, Vampire Family, Vampire Politics, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2013-10-26
Packaged: 2017-12-30 12:37:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1018698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the many ways that vampire families are like any other: sometimes things just need to be shouted out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Acrimony

**Author's Note:**

> Part one, "The One That Got Away."

“Where’s Eric?” Jessica asks as Nora enters.  Strangely enough, she’s wearing an actual legitimate red Jansport backpack, the likes of which Jessica hasn’t seen since church camp in junior high, and she kind of wants to ask where it came from, but she’s definitely not going to.

Actually, Nora’s kind of rocking a whole schoolgirl thing tonight.  A slightly Goth schoolgirl – it’s all black except the backpack, boots and tights and pleated skirt and sweater with all those cutouts (Nora seems to like those, Jessica’s noticed), and both boots and skirt are leather – but still.  It’s definitely a different vibe than any time Jessica tried for, well, Goth or schoolgirl either, and it works strangely well.

“Nice backpack,” Tara deadpans once she looks up, saving Jessica the trouble.  It’s the kind of voice that probably means sarcasm, but only if you’re looking for it.

“He’s getting dinner,” Nora shrugs, glancing at Jessica and giving a polite nod hello.

Tara and Pam get no such nods.  Apparently, watching princess movies with someone raises them to a higher level of acquaintanceship in Nora’s estimation.

“And it’s not mine,” Nora continues, very carefully not rolling her eyes in Tara’s direction as she begins to unpack books and paper and pens onto one of the larger tables.  “It was the first thing I came across in your lost and found that was large enough to carry all of this at once, and that’s more efficient than making trips with all the little odds and ends.”

“Goody,” Pam says.  “Homework.”

To that, Nora _does_ roll her eyes.  “For one, we didn’t have a chance to talk about what you two learned last night,” she declares instead.  “And we certainly didn’t have a chance to discuss anything else.”

“Like that shit on the radio?” Tara interjects.

“What shit on the radio?” Jessica repeats.

Nora runs a hand through her hair, looking suddenly exhausted.  “It’s – well, we’d –”

“Why are we getting into this?” Pam asks.  “If Daddy’s bringin’ dinner, shouldn’t we hold the conversation till then?”

“I don’t see why I shouldn’t at least bring Jessica up to speed,” Nora grumbles.

“Why’s she even need to be brought up to speed in the first place?” Pam presses.

Looking ashamed and tugging at the hem of her shirt, Jessica whispers, “I didn’t hear whatever you’re all talkin’ about.  I’d kinda gone off by myself for a little.”

Pam raises an eyebrow.  “To do…?”

“I was just thinkin’ about stuff,” Jessica mumbles.

“Leave it alone,” Tara tells her Maker.  It’s pretty clear what that means (the same thing it meant the first night when Jessica went off alone, i.e. she needed to go cry).

“I’m surprised you got away with slacking off,” Pam observes, glancing from Jessica to Nora.  “Auntie bein’ the hardass she is.”

“All of you,” Nora says, folding her arms and very pointedly ignoring that last even as she sort of proves it (not that she cares).  “Join, please?”

Jessica scoots out of the booth she’s been sitting in, but she doesn’t make to go toward the table until she sees that the others are doing so first, and this isn’t an immediate thing; Pam grumbles something low enough that only Tara can catch all of it and Tara has to yank on her arm to get her moving, but they do both slide off the bar stools they’ve been perched on.

“Aw,” Jessica exclaims because she can’t help herself, gesturing to the other three women.  “You're matching, kinda.”

Well, they’re matching in the way that members of a girl group might match in a story in a magazine, which is to say not really at all, but they’ve all got leather skirts on – Nora’s that strangely young pleated number, Pam’s a slit-up-the-side pencil skirt, Tara’s tight and short as can be. 

Actually come to think of it, they could sort of pass for members of a girl group, all of them, even though Jessica isn’t matching just now.  They’d just need one more and they could be the Spice Girls, who Jessica was never allowed to listen to but totally did anyway (probably a couple years too late, but still, she sort of collected other redheads as a kid, and Ginger definitely counted, so).

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nora says, perplexed or possibly just pretending to be.  She’d totally be Posh, and not just ‘cause she looks the most like her.

“You’re bein’ weird,” Pam declares.  By default of being the only blonde, she’d be Baby, but that doesn’t really make sense, since Jessica and Tara are both considerably younger than her in vampire years and all three of the others were younger when turned (Jessica’s pretty sure, anyway).

“Whatever, let’s just do what we’re all here to,” Tara mutters.  And that means she’d be Scary, except she’d probably say something about of course the black girl winds up being _scary_ , and she’d be just a little scary with her ranting about it but it’s not like she wouldn’t probably have a point.

“Anyhow,” Nora cuts in, sitting at the table in the most professional way she can and staring at the others until they do as well.  “In response to your earlier question, Jessica, there was a discussion on the radio last night about vampire rights.”

“Oh,” Jessica says faintly.

“There’s legislation being proposed to significantly reduce the number of rights we have,” Nora continues, still all business (it’s done to keep from showing how nervous she is, but none of the others think to notice that).  “Spurred by the recent outbreaks of vampire violence –”

“That all y’all started by blowin’ up the TruBlood factories,” Pam interrupts.

Nora grits her teeth.  “That was the intention of that,” she admits, rather cagily.  “But that’s not the issue right now.”

“I don’t see why not,” Pam says, because she can’t not.  “I mean, it’s what started all this shit.”

“And we can’t bloody well go back in time and change it now,” Nora snaps.

“None of you thought that this could all be avoided if you just _didn’t_ act like dumbasses?” Pam asks

“It’s no excuse,” Nora says, her voice starting to rise, “But we’d been high out of our fucking minds.”

“You’re right, that ain’t gonna hold up in a court of law,” Pam observes.

“I didn’t say it would,” Nora retorts, pushing back her chair and storming toward the bar to give her a moment to collect her thoughts.  “I’m merely giving context for what I know was one of the shittiest decisions I’ve ever been privy to but, since you apparently haven’t noticed, I intend to _fix_.”

“Okay, so you’re on some sort of fucked up redemption mission,” Pam shrugs.  “Why are you dragging the rest of us into it?”

“You’re dragged into it whether you like it or not!” Nora shouts.  “I admit that I pulled Eric and Bill down into this shit, and Bill was responsible for involving Jessica, but you and your progeny involved yourselves when you killed Rosalyn’s idiot child.”

“What the fuck choice did I have?” Tara interrupts.  “He was comin’ in here like suddenly he owned the damn place, actin’ like –”

Pam shakes her head, silencing Tara with a look and standing to meet Nora face to face.  “And we wouldn’t have had to do that if you and your Authority cronies hadn’t suddenly decided to turn the world upside-down,” she points out.

“But it happened, so – so just fucking _deal with it_ ,” Nora exclaims.  “The Authority made mistakes, and I don’t deny this.  I don’t deny that I feel rather responsible for correcting them, either.  But it’s not like they aren’t going to affect the rest of us whether we like it or not.”

Still at the table, Jessica leans to whisper to Tara, “How long do you think they’re gonna keep goin’ like this?”

Tara shrugs.  “I dunno,” she says.  “Just let ‘em have it out.  Apparently there’s no point gettin' involved.”

“The irony isn’t lost on me,” Nora keeps up, “That the human government is showing an equal lack of discernment toward vampires as the vampire government was showing toward humans.  I’m sure most of it is born of fear, but unless you intend to just roll over and let them take everything from you, fighting back is the only option.”

“I thought you were worried about kickin’ Billith’s ass, not the government’s,” Pam says.

“It’s the same issue!” Nora hisses.  “Bill was the one who suggested blowing up the damn factories, forcing our kind into this state!”

“So offing him’s just gonna set back the clock?” Pam yells.

She looks about to say more, but she’s shut up by the door slamming _hard_ , so loud it reverberates through the entire room.  “That’s _enough_ ,” Eric shouts.  The others aren’t quite sure how long he’s been standing there with a battered crate of TruBlood (salvaged from – somewhere), given how caught up they’d all been.  “Nobody needs your attitude right now, Pam.”

“Hey,” Tara exclaims, leaping from her seat.  “All this shit goes two ways, don’t put it all on her.”

“Control your child,” Eric mutters dismissively.

“Don’t be a dick and maybe I wouldn’t need to,” Pam replies angrily.  She and Tara both have their arms folded, their expressions are identically furious.  They may argue and snark at each other, but it’s pretty clear that the second anyone attacks either of them, even just a little bit, the other is going to be there to defend them, and that's not changing.  Period.

“And you, sister,” Eric continues, rounding on Nora.  “You should know better.”

“Than what?” Nora says, voice gone low and furious.  “I’d think it makes sense to be worked up about all of this, since it seems like nobody else is bothering to.”  That’s not really what he meant, and they both know it, but she says it anyway.

“Bein’ a bitch about it isn’t gonna get anyone to listen,” Pam says archly.

“I’m not –”

“And I still don’t get why we’re listening to her at all,” Pam continues, aiming it at Eric now.  “She was one of the ones who fucked us over in the first place, why do we trust her now?”

“She’s family,” Eric seethes.  “And I was around that table, too.”

“Great,” Tara spits out.  “So everyone here’s been an idiot.”

“Will all y’all just shut up?” Jessica shrieks suddenly, all but throwing her chair to the floor as if to get their attention (in case the yelling hadn’t).  “They’re always sayin’ in movies and stuff, the bad guys _want_ the good guys to get divided amongst themselves, right?  If they can’t work together, they can’t get stuff done.  They self-destruct or somethin’.  It makes the good guys look worse, that all they can do is get all fuckin’ distracted by petty stuff, and yeah, the bad guys probably do like that, since it just makes them look better in comparison.” 

Eric raises an eyebrow at the redhead, somewhere between surprised and perplexed; of the women, Nora’s at least approximating guilt the best.

“So if we actually wanna do anything and put a stop to all this shit with the government and my asshole Maker, well,” Jessica says, a little more calmly now that the others are taking note (she's proud of how she doesn't even choke on the mention of Bill).  “We’re gonna have a pretty hard time doin’ that if we just keep turnin’ everything into a screaming match.”

That, and she really just doesn’t like everyone hurling insults and mistrust at each other, she never has.  She’s handling it better than she did when really anyone started yelling around her when she was a human, but she doesn’t wanna push it.

“Sorry, Jess,” Tara says, because she expects nobody else is going to.

“Don’t apologize to me,” Jessica shrugs, waving a hand in the direction of the whole group as if to say, to all of them, _I’m not the one you need to apologize to_.

“Sorry,” Nora says, mostly to Pam.

And because like hell she’s going to be the sore loser here, Pam repeats it.  “Yeah, sorry, I guess,” she mutters, then nodding in silent, more private contrition at Eric.

He just returns the nod, but he catches Jessica glaring at him and Tara doing the same, so he mumbles a halfhearted apology as well.

“There you go,” Jessica says cheerfully.  “That wasn’t so hard.”

It certainly wasn’t easy, but none of the others are saying that.


End file.
